WCI withdraws candidacy of Toni Kasim and announces alternate campaign

WCI has made the extremely painful and difficult decision to withdraw our candidacy of Toni Kasim for the upcoming general elections. This decision was influenced by a combination of crucial factors, most of which we have already publicly iterated.

• If independent candidates want to run without having any party affiliations, they will only receive their designated campaigning logo from the Elections Commission on nomination day. To print the required banners and leaflets, and then go on to market the logo to potential voters would take up precious time for an independent – time that a party candidate would already be taking advantage of from the onset.
• The act of dissolving Parliament before its term expires (the current Parliament’s term would expire automatically in May 2009) in order to call for elections is actually known as a ‘snap election’. Snap elections are the exception rather than the norm in most democracies. However, in Malaysia, citizens have become used to nervously playing guessing games about when Parliament is going to be dissolved to make way for elections.
• With most of the mainstream press and broadcasting stations owned by or having strong links with various parties in the ruling coalition, it is fair to say that the Government receives perpetual media coverage. Opposition candidates have a much harder time getting objective and fair coverage before and during elections. The chances of an independent candidate getting coverage are similarly slim, and this is made worse by the fact that independent candidates do not have the backing of a party structure.
• The raising of the election deposit in 2004 to RM10,000 for Parliamentary candidates presents a serious obstacle to independent candidates running for elections. Malaysia still imposes one of the highest election deposits in the entire Commonwealth. Compare our election deposit with that of countries like India (Rs.5,000, equivalent to RM422), Australia (AUD350, equivalent to RM1,035) and New Zealand ($300, equivalent to RM763).
• When we take all of these factors into account, it is clear that independent candidates have near-impossible odds stacked against them, especially in our first-past-the-post electoral system, also known as ‘winner takes all’. We point out that despite winning only 63.8% of the popular vote in 2004, the National Front captured 198 out of 219 parliamentary seats, or 90.4% of the seats.

However, these are not the only, nor the main reasons why WCI has chosen to withdraw our candidacy of Toni Kasim. These obstacles have been in place for years already, and Toni ran under similar conditions in the 1999 elections. Back then, Toni still managed to win 43% of the popular votes, slashing the incumbent’s majority from an estimated 38,627 votes in 1995 to merely 8,835 votes in 1999.

The difference this time is that Toni Kasim’s health is currently poor. She was initially hospitalized for a week in January for typhoid and a debilitating duodenal ulcer. While in hospital she made good progress and was in very good spirits after being discharged. However, in the past week, her health has taken an alarming dip again. As WCI2 is made up of men and women who believe in and care deeply for Toni, we feel that it is not right to place the burden of running for elections on her already stressful condition. It is difficult enough running as an independent woman candidate even when one is in the best of health – it would be unthinkable to do it in times of bad health. Due to the abruptness of these developments, we are, very regrettably, unprepared to field an alternative candidate for the elections.

Again, we would like to point out that only in a system where elections are arbitrarily called and rushed through would the health of the potential candidate affect the outcomes of the democratic process. A fairer system that gives voters and candidates ample notice of elections, and also a longer campaigning period, would allow for both voters and candidates to plan their lives better to face the elections.
This is why our objectives as WCI remain the same. Given the current socio-political climate in Malaysia, we feel it is most crucial now that voters are provided with real choices during elections.

We believe that voters will play a big part in creating these real choices. We need to build stronger checks and balances to government, and we need a viable opposition in place. And to us, this opposition does not only consist of Opposition parties – it should consist of viable independent candidates, and also the voice and aspirations of civil society. We believe it is important now more than ever for civil society to hold all political parties – whether in Government or Opposition – accountable to their promises. Only then will our votes and voices translate into real and meaningful change for all of us.

Thus, we are pleased to announce that although we will not be running an election campaign for an individual candidate, WCI will still be running an exciting, alternate campaign throughout the elections period. Our campaign is aimed at inspiring people that change is indeed possible, and that caring and responsible citizens can in fact use the political process to give expression to our dreams and aspirations, even without having party political affiliations. Our current campaign is proof that creative solutions often arise out of difficult situations, and we invite you to wait as we release more details of this exciting new campaign.